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Tarik Skubal won the American League Cy Young award last year, and he is looking to do it again this season. It's hard to argue that any pitcher in baseball has been better than Skubal as he is putting up another outstanding season, but he isn't worried about the individual success. Skubal wants to perform well so that the Detroit Tigers can win baseball games, and he has helped the team achieve that goal numerous times this season as the Tigers are the first team to reach the 60-win mark.
The Tigers picked up their 60th win of the season on Sunday against the Texas Rangers, and they became the first team to achieve that feat this season. Tarik Skubal was masterful in the win, and he is just happy that his team escaped with a victory.
“That’s what matters — we’re the first to 60,” Skubal said, according to an article from MLB.com. “That matters more than anything that I’m doing individually.”
Skubal lasted 6.2 innings on Sunday night, and he gave up one run on four hits while striking out 11 batters. He didn't get the win as the game was tied at one shortly after he exited, but the Tigers don't win that game without Skubal.
“I expect every time I go out there to put our team in a position to win, and we were able to do that tonight,” Skubal said.
When Skubal left the game, he wasn't happy. He had let a couple of guys get on base, but he had two outs in the bottom of the seventh and he hadn't allowed a run yet. He wanted to get the last out, but he was at 105 pitches. Tigers manager AJ Hinch pulled him, and the Rangers immediately scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.
“Those are tough decisions,” AJ Hinch said. “As I told him on the mound, if we’re going anywhere, we’re going with him. I wanted to give him the Heim at-bat, maybe even the at-bat behind him. But the Heim at-bat, he emptied his tank … it was just time to go get him there.”
The Tigers ended up knocking in a run to go up 2-1 in the eighth, and they held on for the win. After losing six games in a row, they needed that one bad.
“Wins were hard to come by in the last week, but we’ve been doing pretty well for the better part of four months,” Hinch said. “This team has a lot of confidence, but you always love getaway day wins. Obviously, we needed to salvage a game in this series. Tarik’s on the mound, does an exceptional job, and we did just enough offensively. So we’ll get on a happy flight and get to a new series.”
Losing six in a row was rough for the Tigers, but the skid is over, and the team still has the best record in baseball. Detroit started a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night, and it is hoping to pick up some more wins in the coming days.
